Enugu House of Assembly education committee hails ESUT VC

Enugu State House of Assembly Committee on Education Tuesday July 12, 2016 applauded the Vice- chancellor of ESUT and his team of management for excellent display of maturity and in handling the many academic and management issues of the institution. This was the commendation of the tenman strong Committee that was in full force in its oversight function visit to ESUT.

The Committee led by its Chairman Rt. Hon. Matthew Ugwueze included Rt. Hon. Anthony Ogidi, Hon. Barr. Obinna Ogbe, Hon. Iloabuchi Aniagu, Hon. Nelson Uduji, Hon. Barr. Philip Nnamani, Hon. Mrs. Ethel Ugwuanyi, Hon. Arc. James Akadu, Hon. Chinedu Nwamba and Hon. Johnbull Nwagu. The Chairman, Hon. Ugwueze gave a run-down of a wide range of issues the Committee was interested in knowing about ESUT, ranging from the university's budget, admissions, to the encroachment of the host communities on the land of ESUT.

Hon. Johnbull Nwagu spoke on the issue of tackling various challenges faced by the institution and suggested that the Vice-Chancellor should create a synergy between the staff union, students and the Alumni Association. He further suggested that ESUT could link with other universities in terms of revenue generation, advising the V-C to be creative in finding ways to move the university forward. He said, "You are sitting on a gold mine that must explore." Barr. Obinna Okenwa said there is wonderful improvement on student examination contrary to what used to obtain when he was a student here. He remarked that more than seventy percent of the members of the committee were products of ESUT. He commended the university with regards to staff welfare and praised the Works Department of the University for maintaining a neat environment. He further requested for an improvement in registration processes especially the postgraduate students and pleaded for the university to create a more conducive means of students changing to their desire coursed without unnecessary hitches.

The issue of the remaining two Faculties still at MSP, Enugu was raised including students "sorting" lecturers for grades, adjunct lecturers, admission and illegal demand for money from students. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Luke O. Anike in addressing the uncertainties raised by the legislators told the Committee in emphatic tone that the university maintains a zerotolerance to sorting. He said that any case of such criminality had always been swiftly and decisively handled without discrimination about who was affected. He said the institution encourages any students so affected to be courageous and come forward to report such cases even anonymously. He cleared the erroneous impression that the University does not admit some people even when they had score well beyond the requirements for admission.

The Vice-Chancellor revealed that the constraint in admitting many students rests on the carrying capacity allowed the institution by the National Universities Commission (NUC). He said that an example is Law where every university is allocated a certain number to be admitted and that any institution that exceeds that figure risks having the Programme closed. He confirmed the efforts being made by the University to see that the Postgraduate registration is made hitch-free just as the undergraduate has been achieved. The V-C further explained that students are readily allowed to change courses provided that the carrying capacity for that Programme is not exceeded.

On Adjunct lecturers, the Vice- Chancellor, Professor Anike explained to the visiting Committee that ESUT has 265 of such lecturers because there is a gap in academic staff capacity building and assured that the university is working hard to bridge that gap. On internally generated revenue (IGR), the V-C explained that a student pays 125 thousand naira per session as tuition and other fees. He revealed that while the university spends 317 million naira per month on staff salaries alone, the university receives a total of 108.5 million naira per month from government, out of which the combined contributions of the Local Governments to this amount totals 25.5 million per month, saying that there is a huge gap between what the university requires and what is available to it.

As the House Committee rose with all the top management personnel of the university to inspect the many TETFund projects going on in ESUT, the Committee Chairman, Hon. Ugwueze urged the Vice-Chancellor to pressurize the contractors handling the projects to quicken the work pace so that ESUT would not lose the next TETFund intervention fund which may be around the corner. The Committee expressed pleasure with the job done on the Faculty of Natural Science extension building which is at the verge of completion. At the ESUT practicing farm which consisted fishery, piggery and poultry, the Committee was taken round the premises to see some of the machines and equipment acquired to facilitate work

The Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) was originally founded as ASUTECH on July 30, 1980.

The University was conceived with the aim to establish an institution that must be closely related to society, its industry and above all, serve as a catalyst in the technological advancement of the people, hence the University’s motto remains, "Technology for Service".